The Digital Identity Card Registry has advised government agencies, financial institutions, employers and other organisations that the Guyana Unique Identification Number (GUIN) and Resident Identification Number (RIDN) should be used as the permanent reference numbers when recording information from the country’s new electronic identification cards.
In a statement yesterday, the Registry said the guidance follows the coming into force of the Digital Identity Card Act on March 31 this year, making the digital identity card an official form of identification for transactions with public and private sector entities.
It reminded authorities and businesses that, under the Act, the cards “must be accepted” as official identification for persons conducting business in Guyana and in countries that have reciprocal agreements with Guyana.
The Registry noted that two categories of cards are currently being issued: the Citizen Identity Card for Guyanese nationals and the Resident Identity Card for eligible non-citizens authorized to work in Guyana.
It said the GUIN and RIDN are assigned when the card is first issued and remain unchanged for life, even if the physical card is renewed, replaced or corrected. Those numbers appear in the final field of the biodata section on the front of the card.
By contrast, the Registry explained that the document number changes whenever a new card is issued and should not be used as a permanent identifier, while the Card Access Number (CAN) is intended solely for the card’s embedded electronic chip and should never be used for identification purposes.
It warned that organisations relying only on the document number risk creating breaks in their records whenever a cardholder renews or replaces a card.
“The GUIN and RIDN were designed specifically to prevent this, providing a single, lifelong reference number for every citizen and resident cardholder,” the Registry said.
The electronic identity card programme was launched by the government as part of its wider digital transformation agenda and is intended to provide a secure means of verifying identity for access to government and private sector services. The cards contain an embedded electronic chip and are expected to support the expansion of digital public services, while eventually facilitating recognition in countries that enter into reciprocal agreements with Guyana.
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